Care Community

Parents who foster rest much easier knowing they are well supported on their fostering journey. In fact, community support helps the entire family — both the parent(s) and child(ren) — adjust more quickly. This is where a Care Community comes in.

Stated simply, a Care Community is a group of volunteers who wraps around a foster family to provide for expressed, felt, tangible needs. Think meal prep, meal delivery, grocery shopping, lawn care, childcare, tutoring, prayer, house cleaning, laundry, transportation — you name it! In some cases, churches are also able to provide for a family’s spiritual and emotional needs too, as they host support groups and provide counseling. This only increases their impact. Care Communities provide for ongoing needs as well as intermittent, one-time needs.

WinShape Homes believes an effective Care Community is:

• Simple
• High-quality
• Sustainable
• Practical
• Transformational
• Reproducible

Studies show that on average 50% of families who foster alone stay committed more than one year. But, when fostering families are supported by a community, 90% continue fostering into a second year and beyond. This statistic provides compelling evidence for the formation of a Care Community around fostering families. At WinShape Homes, we not only want to license foster families, but in partnership with the local church, we also want to help them thrive. We want both families and children to gain resilience and live abundantly.

The Bible is full of examples of the way God made people to thrive in community. Let’s look at just one example in Exodus 17:12-13.

“When Moses’ hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up—one on one side, one on the other—so that his hands remained steady till sunset. So Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword.”

In order for the Israelites to defeat the Amalekites, Moses needed to be obedient to God and raise his hands. However, during the battle, he grew weary. But praise God! Moses had two wonderful friends around him who would not let him give up on what God had instructed him to do. They supported his hands themselves.

All of us are not called to foster, but we are all called to do something with the abilities and gifts we have been given. We can support those called to foster; we can “hold up their arms.”

At WinShape Homes, our vision and mission is to see children and families experience healing and restoration through the gospel. We partner with the local church to provide Christ-centered care for vulnerable children and families through trauma-focused care, loving homes, mental health services and enriching experiences.

We believe we can have the greatest impact in caring for vulnerable children by supporting the efforts and ministries of the local church. We aim to empower, encourage and equip churches to minister to children in care and the families caring for them, whether they are just starting a foster care ministry or already have a robust ministry in place.

WinShape Homes desires to help churches establish a clear path for every person to do something before, during and beyond foster care. We will walk alongside your church in establishing not only a Care Community but also a culture where vulnerable children are cared for – where care for the vulnerable is not something you do as a one-time or seasonal activity, but it is foundationally who you are as a church. This type of ministry naturally and inevitably begins to happen through transformed culture.

Our approach to Care Community development with each of our church partners is unique and individually-based, focusing on your particular resources and needs. This means that no two Care Communities will look exactly the same. We will help you assess your strengths, opportunities and goals as a church and be with you step-by-step as you develop a strategy to care for vulnerable children in your community and foster families in your congregation.

WinShape Homes will work with Care Community leaders to develop ministry opportunities along the “Path of Proximity,” which increases knowledge of and engagement with foster care.

Unaware —> Aware —> Involved —> Invested

The church will be asked to:

• Set the leadership structure,
• Identify foster families who need support,
• Identify the needs of foster families,
• Determine the strategy of support,
• Determine volunteer roles,
• Recruit volunteers,
• Determine needed training for volunteers and implement training (in partnership with WSH),
• Schedule volunteers for wraparound support of foster families, and
• Implement strategy of support.

WinShape Homes commits to:

• Work with the church to assess its current ministry efforts and determine a starting point for foster care ministry and/or Care Community;
• Provide access to resources, education and training;
• Check in with ongoing consulting and coaching;
• Work with the church and lay leadership to create a foundation and plan for wraparound support of foster families in the church;
• Work with the church and lay leadership to identify ways to serve vulnerable children in the community;
• Assist with volunteer training; and
• Check in and care for Care Community leadership.

We desire for the relationship between your church and WinShape Homes to be mutually beneficial. As your partner, we commit to having a posture of flexibility, and as we work together, we hope to grow in our ability to anticipate your needs. As we begin our partnership, we want to be your first call when you have needs! Let’s link arms with one another as we serve children and families together, helping them build resilience and know the love of Jesus more deeply during what can be an incredibly challenging and richly blessed season of their lives.

While your church provides a Care Community for your foster families, rest assured that WinShape Homes is wrapping around your church as your Care Community.